Connecter



Oct. 25, 1938. LE. BROWN 2,134,170

' CONNECTER Fi;|.ed June 25, 1937 Fig.1- v

A+ mRNzq= o lamp, each end of which is provided with -a su ble m ans may be empl y d f s uri t so channel, shown at [6, consists of a base I] havf t P o g are suflicient to prevent the p 40 Patented Oct. 25, 1938 t I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONNECTER Lawrence E. Brown, North Quincy, Mass, assignmto Leonard 0. Erikson, Maiden, Mass.

,Application June 25, 1937, Serial No. 150,339

' 2 Claims. (01. 173-328) This invention relates to connecters especially 24, the lower end of which underlies said contact adapted foruse with cylindrical lamps having member, thereby electrically and mechanically contact ferrules at their respective ends and its connecting said prong to said member. Theupobject is to improve and simplify the construction per end of said prong projects upwardly from the of such connecters in the manner hereinafter portion 20 of the contact cap and terminates in 5 more fully set forth. a bead 25. Preferably said prong is a. flat me- In the drawing accompanying and forming a talllc member, as shown, in order that the flange part of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevaportion 20 of the contact cap may be reduced to tion of a connecter embodying my invention and the minimum possible width, it being highly dea portion of a lamp to one end of which it is sirable that the width of thecontact can be as 10 connected, together with a portion of a wiring small as possible.

channel within which said connector is secured. The sock t which p rates with the conta t Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken on the cap comprises a body portion 30 having an openline 2'2 of Fig. 6. ing 3| therethrough, and a top portion 33 ex- 16 Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing the contact tending at right an les to said body port on and 16 cap and socket which make up my invention provided w a r v 3 uni atin t slightly separated. with. .Within said socket is disposed a contact Figs. 4 and 5, respectively, are front and rear clip comprising apair of spring fingers 35, each elevations showing the two parts of the connecter te a g in a laterally extending Portion 5 separated, Fig. 5'being partly in section taken on di p sed in sa d O In Order to se u the 20 e the line 5-4 of Fig, 2 contact clip to the socket, the flanges of the clip Fig. 6 is a plan view of my connector, the two y b P d w t registering ope gs d component parts thereof being united. sed e the oje t g end of a rior y Fig. 7 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale eaded metal ic socket 3 embedded in the of a detail of construction. overhanging top portion of the socket l6 approxi- 25 In the particular drawing selected for more ma ly w y e w he ends of said verfully disclosing my invention, said drawing being hanging Po t n and the p ojecting ends or said illustrative merely, and not restrictive, I0 is a metallic socket rolled over on. the upp cylindrical lamp commonly known as a lumiline flange 3 by a Punch other tool, 4 37 other metallic ferrule ll having a central depression Contact p to said s e I2, a filament l3 being electrically connected be- In the Present instance, the spring fi e a e tween said ferrules. For connecting said filament P ov d With oppositely directed bows 33 ea to a lighting circuit, a contact cap l5 and a their lower ends, which are separated by the 35 socket l6 therefor both formed of insulating mainsertion t e e of t e prone 24 (Fi 2) the 35 terial, are employed. when the lamp is embeaded end of which when the contact cap and ployed for certain purposes, as for example, to S ket "5 are engaged will be di p im iilluminate a showcase, a wiring channel usually etely above a d bcWs- The l e y f t is employed and in the present instance, such sp in fi s an e size of the be ded end 25 ing two upstanding arms I8 formed integral ration 0f the (IO-Operating membersv y therewith. the weight of the lamp carried between the con- The contact cap comprises a circular face portact caps l5 and to prevent sudden shocks or tion [8 having a peripheralflange l9 and a jars rom d s a t e p s, in act, a rea- 4 portion 20 at right angles to said face portion, sonable'degree of force is required to remove the Within the recess formed in the face of the concontact p from its socket tact cap by the overhanging flange I9 is disposed The spaced relation between the positions of a fiat contact member 2| provided with several the bows 3B and the point of juncture of the conspring fingers 22 which are integral therewith tact c n and s V the upper Surface 39 0f and extend outwardly therefrom, said fingers bethe portion 20 0f the Contact p, P ly s 5 ing disposed to enter the depression l2 in the" such that upon the withdrawal of said contact lamp ferrule. cap-from its socket the prong 24 will have bro- In the present instance, the fiat contact memken contact with the spring fingers 35 before. her is secured to the contact cap by the screw 23 the space between the lower end of the body which passes'through the lower end of the prong portion 30 of the socket and the upper surface 55 8| aforesaid is sufficiently large to permit a finger of the operator, or any portion thereof, to

come in contact with the prong.- It will beunderstood, of course, that while a contact clip of any suitable form may be employed, I prefer to use a clip consisting, as shown, of two fiat spring fingers in order to permit the use of a relatively narrow contact cap.

The fiange portion a of the socket is-provided with means whereby it may be attached to asupport, such means in the present instance being shown as the interiorly threaded metallic sockets 4i embedded in said fiange portion near the rearward end thereof. When said socket is supported by a wiring channel, such vas it, the.

latter is provided with a transverse openingthrough which the. body portion of said socket is passed and the fiange portion is firmly secured to the bottom of the wiring channel by screws l. which pass through holes in said bottom and take into the metallic sockets ll.

The contact fingers s! are connected in circuit by means of the binding screw 41 having threaded engagement with the metal socket 31. As will appear more clearly in Fig. 6, a substantial amount of insulating material intervenes between said binding post and sockets I, which of course are grounded through the screws u and the wiring channel, thereby reducing the danger of grounding the circuit.

By placing said binding screw and the sockets u in the positions shown, I am enabled to reduce the width of the top 33 of the socket is and permit the use of a narrower wiring channel than would be feasible if said screw and sockets were,

in alignment.

Having thus described an illustrative embodiment of my invention without, however, limiting having at each end a metallic ferrule provided with a central depression and a filament con nected therebetween, comprising in combination a contact cap of insulating material having a recess in one face. thereof, a fiat contact member disposed in said recess and provided with spring fingers extending therefrom and integral therewith, said spring fingers being disposed to enter the depression in one of said ferrules, a prong mechanically secured to said cap and electrically connected with said contact member said prong being substantially parallel with the plane of the inner face of said cap and not extending substantially beyond the perimeter thereof, a socket of insulating material provided with an opening therethrough. a contact clip in said opening, said clip comprising a pair of spring fingers disposed to receive said prong between them, and means securing said clip to said socket.

2. A connecter for a tubular electric lamp having at each end a metallic ferrule provided with a central depression and a filament connected therebetween, comprising in combination a contact cap of insulating material having a recess in one face thereof, a flat contact member disposed in said recess and provided, with spring fingers extending therefrom and integral therewith, said-spring fingers being disposed to enter the depression in one of said ferrules, a-prong mechanically secured to said cap and electrically connected with said contact member said prong being substantially parallel with the plane of the 

